Today has certainly been dreary. The morning feels like someone is trying to pry you (with a crowbar!) from a warm & protective womb of bedding… The bleak winteresque sky makes you think twice before hopping into your slippers. Somehow my body always knows when it’s a gray day out. And by gray, I mean dull and lifeless. Given, this season makes us thankful for all the others, but it doesn’t make the transition easy on the system. I love that sometimes the cold can be brisk and put a bit of a spring in the step… but today was not one of those cheery cold days.
I’ve done things around the house, but haven’t had very much energy. My dog was sighing deep sighs of sadness, making me feel very neglectful.. but he’s quite good at playing guilt trip. His brown german shepherd eyes take victims all the time! Since he was so unhappy with the current situation (me keeping warm in bed, reading, writing, and occasionally talking to him) I decided I would go downstairs and see what there was to be done. Its amazing what your dog can do to motivate you!
Having a little burst of enthusiasm, (after doing some class reading & a lot of procrastinating by looking at gift ideas for people in my family) I got into my office closet downstairs and pulled out a box of trinkets I had got at the town fleamarket. Fleamarkets are named so for a reason: there is so much junk anywhere and everywhere that it does get kind of crazy & untidy. The faint of heart should be wary, and it was a very hot day when the hubs & I set out (and it was his second visit). So the experience was short-lived and a bit discomforting for a time. But if you’re patient & keep your head about you, you can find a treasure!
Well… I found a bag full of Christmas decor, and being newlyweds short up on cash, I love finding cute/functional things that I pay next to nothing for. This particular bag contained: many christmas brooches in varying shapes and sizes–one cute christmas tree pin that I now have on my winter coat, one snowman pin that I pinned to our NEW alive christmas tree (my Darling caved in and consented to having it–we can plant it in the yard in the spring! 
, one little wreath with buttons on it, which I promptly hung (with childlike excitement) around our back door doorknob… an owl pin, a limousine pin, and a fat wooden pencil keyring. I’m sure i’m forgetting something… but the point is that these bag of pins et al are fab-u-lous! I am a pin girl, i’ll probably be a pin mom, and an extravagantly pinny grandmother… so be it! I’ll put pins in my hats, on my coats, scarves.. and my bags. Brooches are just plain fun.
Anyhow… I thought this was all wonderful! Examining these little treasures, I wondered where they came from. I guess if you’re the average American, you don’t want your stuff to have come from anywhere: the thought of your things having belonged to someone else previously creeps you out… but I like it. I love recycling, and what better way to save things from a landfill than to use them after someone else is done with them?! But the story gets a little more juicy.
I looked on the back of the limo pin, and what did I find? It said “Made in France” and carved into the metal pin accent was “LEA STEIN,” “Paris” Of course Paris is nice, but I wondered if I found something valuable. I looked it up and what do you know? Lea Stein pins go for anywhere between $75-$150 bucks a pop–for the variety I found in my bag. The little limousine pin is delicate and cute–she’s one of the most famous antique plastic costume jewelry designers. Though “plastic costume jewelry” sounds kind of cheap to me, these pins certainly are not. They’re crafted & beautiful, and the first time I saw it I thought that it looked hand made. :) At any rate, it’s cool to find treasure in your box of junk from a fleamarket.
Isn’t that Pretty??
Cheers!
